It all began with him making it into the Bafana Bafana squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of nations in Ghana.

Over the weekend things got better for him as he was at the forefront of helping Chiefs win the Telkom Knockout, as he kept his third clean sheet in four matches in the cup. He then proceeded to dethrone Brian Baloyi as the spot kick king, saving three of Sundowns’ five kicks during the shoot out, and on Monday was voted as the PSL Jet Rookie of the month for November.

Things got much sweeter for the 20-year-old goalkeeper on Tuesday when he walked away with two awards from the Telkom KO awards function held at the luxurious surroundings of the Wanderers club in Illovo, Johannesburg. Khune again beat off the challenge of Baloyi, out jumping the veteran goalkeeper on his way to picking up R100 000 for being the goalkeeper of the tournament. A few minutes later he was on the podium again this time collecting the prize as the player of the 2007 Telkom Knock Out, and with it a cheque of R200 000.

Coaches Ecstasy

When Khune was called out as the player of the tournament, Amakhosi goalkeeper coach Rainer Dinkelacker went up and pat the young keeper on his back. Dinkelacker, who has worked with Khune since late 2004, could not contain his excitement at Khune’s awards.

“Itumeleng played magnificently well throughout the tournament and really deserves the praise and the prizes he has won, the timing of Itumeleng coming into the first team could not have been better, he had a few aspects of his game we needed to work on and when he made his debut in August, I was fully convinced that he was the finished product,” he said.

Khune joy

When called up to collect his prize Itu did a special dance for the audience, much to the delight of his teammates. A very emotional Khune told kaizerchiefs.com on the bus, as The Amakhosi made their way after the awards to the O.R.Tambo International Airport, “Everything has been happening so fast over the past couple of days. First of all I did not believe Siphiwe Tshabalala when he told me that I was in the Cup of Nations squad and now this."

"The Cup Final was such an amazing experience, winning it was even better. My wish is to keep up the good form from now till the end of the season and become a better keeper with every passing game”.

Khune thanked his parents Florah and Elias for all the effort they made in ensuring he could fulfill his dream, when asked what he would be doing with his winnings Khune said, “I have already spoken to my bank manger and I will be investing the money and hopefully make it work for me in the future”.

PSL CEO impressed

The CEO of the Premier Soccer League Kjitel Siem, in his address at the ceremony on Tuesday, spoke of his happiness at the kind of final that was played out on Saturday evening. He was also particularly impressed by the dual between the two goalkeepers, saying: “I personally think that there was some sort of communication between the two keepers. They might not have physically spoken but there was talking between them."

"Brian got a yellow card for time wasting, why would you waste time when the score is 0-0? The only thing I can think of is that he wanted the game to go to a shoot out, and Itumeleng replied by saving three kicks including Peter Ndlovu’s twice. That dual made what was a wonderful game all the more exciting”.